Turning risk into opportunity
Speakers at the Wembley seminar looked at risks associated with big projects from several different angles: at a strategic level; from a project management perspective and from an operational risk point of view. A recurring theme was exploiting the upside of risk.
Roger Maslin, finance director at the stadium, said that one of the drivers of redevelopment was the prospect that the stadium was no longer fit to host major international events. Seminar chair Paul Hopkin described it, “As fine an example as you’ll find of turning threats into opportunities.”
Andy Donald of the local authority, Brent Council, said a key challenge for them had been to leverage the project to benefit the local community. Admitting that the immediate area had “been a bit of a dump”, he said the danger had been that they would have all the disadvantages of hosting a big sports venue without any of the benefits.
“The national stadium had to have a community focus. It had to have jobs. We had to ensure that local residents were full participants and beneficiaries of regeneration.”
Part of the solution had been to foster good working relations with the developers of land in the area, he said. The project had created many benefits, including 6,000 jobs and a range of new community facilities.
The seminar concluded with a talk from John Beattie, manager of the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal’s new home was built at the same time as Wembley, but with one important difference: it was completed on time.
The exercise was on a comparable scale, albeit smaller. It involved relocating all the businesses in the area, including a post office and a waste transfer centre.
“In building Emirates Stadium, we had a hand in 42% of regeneration in Islington,” he said. One vital element in the success of the venture had been teamwork involving contractors, architects, club directors and himself as the overall manager. Although he was the client, the relationship was more that of people working together towards a common goal.
